Which Postnatal Side Effect Most Surprised You?

Which Postnatal Side Effect Most Surprised You?

If you are like me, you spent a lot of time reading and preparing for the birth of your first baby, but did little to prepare yourself for what your body would go through after the delivery. My pregnancy books didn't discuss much after the actual birth and the photos in the magazines tricked me into believing that new mothers were beaming and beautiful when callers came to visit.

Needless to say, I was unpleasantly surprised when I woke to night sweats for the next three months, found clumps of hair in my hands during showers and was overcome by dryness in every inch of my body. I'm prepared for these fun side effects this time, but wondered which were most surprising to you?

gincase-
There are postpartum sleeves. I know a lot of people who have used their Bella Bands postpartum and there is a new product called Tauts, that I wish I had known about.
http://www.babooshbaby.com/tauts.html

gincase-There are postpartum sleeves. I know a lot of people who have used their Bella Bands postpartum and there is a new product called Tauts, that I wish I had known about.http://www.babooshbaby.com/tauts.html

*The nightsweats have been horrible
*The c-section stiches itch
*I don't have a c-section scar but the flap is not very pretty.
*I've experienced dramatic weight loss - IMHO. I went from 172 to 140 in 4 weeks. I know the baby was a lot of this, but the loss was so quick that my belly jiggles so much that I continue to wear my maternity pants to hold it all together.
There should be a postpartum sleeve that I can slide over my belly to hold it all in. The "girdle" is worthless.

*The nightsweats have been horrible*The c-section stiches itch*I don't have a c-section scar but the flap is not very pretty.*I've experienced dramatic weight loss - IMHO. I went from 172 to 140 in 4 weeks. I know the baby was a lot of this, but the loss was so quick that my belly jiggles so much that I continue to wear my maternity pants to hold it all together.There should be a postpartum sleeve that I can slide over my belly to hold it all in. The "girdle" is worthless.

chancleta... dont be scared, the entire time you're pregnant, you dont lose hair... in fact my hair was incredibly thicker and... i'll say it... GORGEOUS while i was pregnant, it's after you've given birth, your body sheds all the hair it held onto.... youre not really LOSING hair the whole time... just afterwards

I'm with Dana. I haven't really had any issues other than it takes me so much longer to go to the bathroom now. I was lucky to avoid hemerrhoids though.
I don't have the hair problem, but I also never got the excess/lucious hair that some women get during pregnancy.

I'm with Dana. I haven't really had any issues other than it takes me so much longer to go to the bathroom now. I was lucky to avoid hemerrhoids though.I don't have the hair problem, but I also never got the excess/lucious hair that some women get during pregnancy.

I have a TON of hair as it is and when I was pregnant I just seemed to stop shedding, so after I had her and even though I knew it was coming, I couldn't believe the wads of hair that came out of my head. I could have made a nice wig form someone. It was crazy! Now, my hair is back to normal and I have just as much as I did before.
The other thing was the foot growth. I went up a half a size. I was pissed when my super-cute heals didn't fit me anymore.

I have a TON of hair as it is and when I was pregnant I just seemed to stop shedding, so after I had her and even though I knew it was coming, I couldn't believe the wads of hair that came out of my head. I could have made a nice wig form someone. It was crazy! Now, my hair is back to normal and I have just as much as I did before.The other thing was the foot growth. I went up a half a size. I was pissed when my super-cute heals didn't fit me anymore.

I wasn't so much surprised by anything but I thought I had made it out of the woods this time around with the hair loss thing only to have it start falling out in handfuls around month 6 postpartum. I started getting bald spots so I went and got special shampoo and scalp treatments. Now I have all these fuzzy areas with hair that is like an inch long intermixed with my longer hair.

The bladder control loss comes much more from pregnancy than delivery. But if it helps, I only had "real" loss after my labor/pushing one that ended in an emergency c-section. The ones where I didn't labor at all, I'm fine. But I've also done kegals regularly.

I don't think my hair loss in general bothered me but I will say I'm surprised it was so concentrated and created large bald spots on my hairline where I now have 2" spiky sections. Other than that, I think I was really lucky to have a pretty easy time postpartum

nothing really "surprised" me, thanks to some of the more descriptive books i read, but that postpartum bleeding was quite a doozy. after not having my period for almost a year, to suddenly have that much *mess* down there (those clots!), coupled with the extra delicacy and care that area needed (hot water bottles, etc). i was a bit overwhelmed.
the hair loss didn't really bother me, but it freaked my husband out a bit. even after i reassured him it was normal, the volume of hair in the shower drain disturbed him.

nothing really "surprised" me, thanks to some of the more descriptive books i read, but that postpartum bleeding was quite a doozy. after not having my period for almost a year, to suddenly have that much *mess* down there (those clots!), coupled with the extra delicacy and care that area needed (hot water bottles, etc). i was a bit overwhelmed.the hair loss didn't really bother me, but it freaked my husband out a bit. even after i reassured him it was normal, the volume of hair in the shower drain disturbed him.

Nothing surprised me, nor did I really have anything bad except for the hair loss, which I was prepared for. However, I never heard about the dryness. Of course I already have dry skin and live in extremely dry and sunny CO, so it's par for the course daily for me. I wish I always had a solution for it!